The present invention relates in general to vessels with improved supporting surfaces for supporting articles and pertains, more particularly, to a vessel for supporting food products such as pre-baked food during the baking process. The support surface is an improvement over the conventional flat, bumpy or rippled surface found, for example, on conventional baking sheets, cookie sheets and pizza pans.
With the conventional vessel for supporting a food product or other article to be processed the vessel includes a supporting surface that supports the article over substantially all of a supported surface of the article. For example, it is common to bake cookie dough an a flat cookie sheet or bake an un-cooked pizza on a flat pizza pan.
These conventional baking pans are typically constructed using a flat, bumpy or rippled surface that provide for direct contact between the cookie dough or pizza. The direct contact between the food product being baked and the pan result in a food product that is trapped or sealed or in complete contact with the baking surface of the pan.
The result of this xe2x80x9ctrappedxe2x80x9d effect is well-known. The food product that is trapped on the cooking surface has a tendency to burn due, at least in part, to the direct heat transfer between the cooking surface that becomes essentially the same temperature as the baking appliance, for example, an oven and the food product since they are in substantially direct contact.
Also, another drawback of trapping the food product on the baking or cooking sheet or pan is the inability to effectively brown the food product without burning the portion of the food product in contact with the baking or cooking sheet or pan. This same trapping effect can sometimes be observed in other processes related to food products, including the uneven thawing of a frozen food item or the uneven cooling of a food product or the uneven freezing of a food product when the food product is placed on a conventional flat cooking sheet.
It was previously mentioned that other surface treatments for cookie sheets, pizza pans and the like are known, and they include what has been referred to as a bumpy surface or a rippled surface. It is believed that vessels constructed so as to have these or equivalent types of surfaces will suffer all of the drawbacks previously mentioned as well as additional drawbacks related to cleaning the vessel after use, particularly after a use that results in a burned portion of the food product remaining on the cookie sheet or pizza pan or other vessel used as herein described.
Over the years embossed sheet metal has generally been used for architectural or cosmetic practical applications. There are a number of different existing patterns, such as stucco, cedar, diamond, ribbed and pebble-grain used, for example, for aluminum siding and aluminum or bright stainless steel wall panels or refrigeration panels.
These patterns, as well as the pebble-grain pattern discussed herein, are produced commercially by embossing. Generally, this is done in a rolling mill or by an outside specialty metal finisher.
Once the aluminum material has been rolled to the desired thickness, it is fed, usually in coil form, through a set of embossing rolls. These large steel rolls have the exact same pattern which is then transferred to the aluminum sheet.
By nature of the process, the pattern will repeat at intervals based on the roll diameter chosen by the embosser. The pattern may be embossed onto one or both sides.
However, the only use of an embossed sheet product using the pebble-grain pattern or any other pattern for that matter in the food service industry is a use as a serving tray. In that use a special aluminum alloy (5657) is used because it can be chemically brightened to give the food service tray a silver-plated appearance and it is not known to be used for cooking or baking.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vessel for supporting an article having an improved support surface that is constructed with a pattern located on the support surface of the vessel. The pattern provides at least one air pocket between the vessel support surface and the article when the surface supports article so as to provide heat transfer between the article and the vessel.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a baking pan that is adapted to support a food product on a surface that does not trap the food product in direct contact with the baking pan. With the baking pan of this invention foods can be baked or browned with a reduced occurrence of burning and an enhanced capability to brown the food product when it is desired.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a vessel with an improved surface that is adapted to have one or more raised surfaces or portions contacting a food item or other article for maximum heat transfer between the vessel surface and the food product or other article and a low area or portion that forms pockets between the food product or other article that allow air to flow and circulate under the surface of the food item or other article supported on the improved surface.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cooking vessel that includes a support surface that provides improved uniform cooking of food product. The cooking support surface of this invention with its air flow and circulation characteristics slows heat transfer from the vessel to the food product while other exposed portions of the food product not in contact with the support surface approach the temperature of the cooking appliance or, in other words, xe2x80x9cair bakexe2x80x9d which is widely thought to be an improved method of baking.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a cooking vessel that includes a support surface that provides improved uniform browning of a food product. The cooking support surface of this invention with its air flow and circulation characteristics provides more uniform browning of the food product since the portion of the food product that is supported by and, thereby, resting on the patterned support surface is not xe2x80x9ctrappedxe2x80x9d or sealed on a hot or very hot surface without any air flow or circulation since it will be recognized a xe2x80x9ctrappedxe2x80x9d food product may burn before it browns to the desired color.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved article support vessel that incorporates and improved support surface pattern that need not be coated and is more readily cleaned after use (e.g., baking) than vessels with conventional surfaces. The patterned surface of the vessel provides for a flow of air between a food product and the patterned surface that xe2x80x9ccushionsxe2x80x9d the food product in such a manner that the improved support surface acts in the manner of a non-stick surface.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved article support vessel that is adapted for its durability and ability to resist rust.
To accomplish the foregoing and other objects of this invention there is provided a vessel incorporating an improved article support surface for supporting an article, such as a food product, during processing (e.g., baking, thawing or freezing). The vessel comprises a surface for supporting a food product or another article and a pattern formed or otherwise incorporated in the article supporting surface.
The pattern incorporated into the support surface is comprised of a raised portion and a low portion. The raised portion and the low portion combine to define or create a pocket underneath the supported article or food product in which air circulates or flows.
In this way the article supported on the vessel incorporating the patterned surface and the aforementioned air pockets act to enhance the likelihood that heat transfer takes place through a cushion of air and not through the direct contact between the article and the vessel. The cushion of air, therefore, enhances heat transfer as in cooking, thawing and freezing to give just a few examples.
In the disclosed embodiments described herein, there are provided various shapes of baking sheets incorporating a xe2x80x9cpebble patternxe2x80x9d as illustrated in the drawings. This preferred pattern is embossed on the metal sheet and the embossed metal sheet is then formed into the desired shape.
Also, in the preferred embodiment the sheets are constructed of various aluminum alloys used in the food equipment industry including, but not limited to, 3003, 3004 or 5052 aluminum alloys.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be better understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings.